While the precision with which mass-produced, commercially available ammunition has substantially improved over many decades, a plateau has been reached in the accuracy of highly uniform ammunition. It is well known that when a round of ammunition is discharged through any rifled barrel, the barrel exhibits vibrations that can significantly reduce accuracy. These vibrations perturb the trajectory of a projectile as it exits the rifle barrel's muzzle. Prior art teaches the use of mechanical attachments to dampen the amplitude of such vibration so as to observably improve accuracy as evidenced by random scatter in target groupings of successively fired projectiles. Moreover, prior art pertaining to mass production of highly accurate ammunition has focused on the precision of manufacture of precisely uniform ammunition, including undifferentiated cartridge configurations, propellant loads, and projectiles, that are made for use with any rifle or firearm capable of firing the same caliber and cartridge configuration.
The vibration of a rifle's barrel upon firing of a projectile is comprised by transverse waves, harmonic resonances, axial compression waves caused by the acceleration of a projectile's inertial mass as it is axially rotated or “twisted” by barrel rifling, by acoustic pressure waves conducted through the firearm's barrel material and expanding gasses from the combustion of propellant from the cartridge. The interaction of off-axis attachments to the barrel, including the rifle stock, scopes, flash guards, and other masses, significantly contribute to the alteration of the barrel's vibration, thereby, in each instance, modifying the waveform dynamics of any particular individual rifle. All of the hereinabove stated constituents of rifle barrel waveform dynamics are hereinafter referred to as barrel “harmonics.”
One of the most effective ways to discover a means of reducing the random scatter in target groupings of successively fired projectiles from a particular, individual, and specific rifle is to experiment with specific and precisely graduated increments of the amount of propellant loaded in ammunition cartridges so as to determine the amount of propellant necessary to achieve observably optimum accuracy. This process is referred to as “tuning” or “timing” the ammunition for a particular, individual, and specific rifle. Experimental evidence conclusively demonstrates the efficaciousness of this process by demonstrating significant and substantial reduction of random scatter in target groupings of successively fired projectiles.
Once an optimal propellant charge has been determined for use with a particular, individual, and specific rifle, precisely uniform ammunition for that rifle must thereafter be loaded with an identical measure of propellant so as to achieve and maintain consistent accuracy.
An optimum propellant charge can significantly improve the relative accuracy of any rifle, including those of the same make and model, regardless of ammunition caliber, and regardless of any of a multiplicity of configurations including, but not limited to, rifle barrel length and taper, stock configuration including shape and material, and the post manufacture addition of various appliances such as scopes and other devices. While comparable results can be achieved by means of manual loading of the precisely optimal measure of propellant for a particular, individual, and specific rifle, such manual loading requires considerable skill, painstaking attention to detail, specialized assembly equipment, highly accurate measurement equipment, sufficient workspace, the storage and use of hazardous component materials, and a significant amount of time and financial investment.
The practical application of the present invention, whether used alone or in conjunction with mechanical attachments to dampen the amplitude of vibration, significantly and substantially improves the accuracy of projectiles than can otherwise be achieved utilizing precisely uniform ammunition intended for use in any rifle capable of utilizing that caliber and cartridge configuration.